The objective of this project is to determine why apple seeds inhibit flowering. To determine the rate of metabolism and metabolic fate of the gibberellin precursor 14C-GA-12 in seed, fruit, and spur tissues of seeded (inhibit flowering) and seedless (do not inhibit flowering) apples following injection into either seeds or shoot apices. We require GC-MS analyses to identify metabolites. Radioactive metabolites were partially purified by HPLC, then methylated and TMSd prior to GC-MS. The parent compound (14C-GA-12) was identified by GC-MS, but the quantities of metabolites recovered were too small to permit identification. The rate of metabolism was greater in apices of shoots on spurs bearing seedless fruits than in those on shoots bearing seeded fruits, suggesting that flowering is associated with rapid metabolism of gibberellins.